Grassroots News & Progressive Views

San Diego City Council Unanimously Denies Quail Brush Power Plant

September 24, 2012 (San Diego)–The mood was tense as people from multiple walks of life and political views filed into San Diego City Chambers. Among them was Republican Santee Councilman Jack Dale and Democrat David Secor, candidate for U.S. Congress for the 50th district. Both Dale and Secor came to oppose the Quail Brush gas-fired power plant.

So did Massada Disenhouse, activist for the Sierra Club and Martha Sullivan, a former California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) employee, and many others.

There were supporters of the plant as well, including Gary Salas, a member of the electrical trades. Also supporting the project was John Gibson, of Hamman Construction in El Cajon.

This planned peaked plant attracted people from multiple areas of the county, not just San Diego proper.

Before the meeting, ECM spoke with Lori Ziebart of Cogentrix, the project applicant. She said she was “hopeful City Council will initiate the plan.” This way the city would be “able to review the project.”

Cogentrix has claimed that the Quail Brush gas power plant is needed for “when the wind doesn’t blow”, a reference to wind energy projects slated to come online in our region. Cogentrix, formerly owned by Goldman Sachs, was recently acquired by the Carlylse Group. Carlysle is also the founder of Pattern Energy, the wind developer currently building the Ocotillo Express wind project slated to provide power for SDG&E through Sunrise Powerlink.

I was also able to talk with Martha Sullivan, (who later testified before Council). Sullivan used to work for the CPUC and managed many Environmental Impact Statements for several years. She has first hand knowledge of the process.

Comments

Do we need a peaker? Take a look folks – it’s late September – we’ve had one of the hotest, most humid that’s for sure, summers on record. BUT, no brown outs, no black outs – and without SONGS. How? Perhaps the solar panels that have been installed all across the county. We’ve made it through the summer without the peaker of the past, Duke energy’s south bay plant and without the core San Onofre Nuclear Generation Plant. Evidence confirms we do not need a new peaker – Point of fact Energy Commission, don’t do an end run and make us pay for something we don’t need.

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